by Nathalie Craig
AYERS Rock Resort is enjoying an unprecedented increase in business events bookings, with Bruce Munro’s Field of Light installation at Uluru a key factor contributing to the rise.
Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia executive general manager of sales, marketing and distribution Ray Stone told travelBulletin the complex had nearly doubled its MICE market this financial year.
“We are running this financial year about 40% ahead of last year for business events bookings at the resort – it’s the biggest increase we’ve had,” Stone explained.
The market’s natural momentum undoubtedly accounts for some of this but the launch of Field of Light in April has helped this exponential year-on-year growth.
The immersive artwork which features 50,000 solar powered lights will remain open to the public for a year. It is unlike anything the Northern Territory has seen before, spanning an area the size of four football fields in front of Uluru, with viewers invited to walk through paths weaving amongst the lights.
The awe-inspiring exhibition can be best appreciated after sunset and before sunrise. Guests can experience the phenomenon in several ways, with options including a two hour visit, a Night at Field of Light dining experience as well as a sunrise tour.
World renowned artist Bruce Munro first developed the idea for Field of Light while visiting Uluru back in 1992 and has since executed the concept in locations worldwide, including in his own backyard in England.
“The Field of Light is one of those activities inspired by something much bigger than ourselves – and that is this place, it is magnificent,” Munro explained to travelBulletin.
“What I would hope is that this will encourage people not just to just come and see the Field of Light but to come out to a place that will inspire them, hopefully in the same way it inspired me”.
From both a straight tourism and business events perspective, Field of Light is giving people that extra push to get to Australia’s Red Centre. “It’s as if people had been thinking about coming here, hadn’t quite made up their mind and this has sort of taken them over the line,” Stone explained.
Tourism Australia managing director John O’Sullivan echoed these sentiments to travelBulletin expressing his hopes that the artwork would “unlock” the East Asian markets which “haven’t yet quite dispersed across the country”. “They love light, they love man made installations against natural backdrops,” he said.
Stone said definite business events bookings had come through for both this financial year and next based solely on the artwork with several large companies looking for a ‘wow factor’ for their event.
“Field of Light was it for them,” Stone said. In another first for Ayers Rock Resort there has been two instances where a company has completely booked out the resort’s Sails in the Desert hotel for a business events function.
“That’s unusual to buy exclusive use of Sails in the Desert which can hold 200 to 400 people,” Stone said.
“There’s no question in our mind Field of Light is having an effect on the booking pace and that it will be a key element for us over the next 12 months”.
The MICE market accounts for about 8% of the resort’s total bookings with the Asian sector the fastest growing.
